Liu was ewected to de New York City Counciw in 2001, representing nordeast Queens in de 20f District as its first Asian American member.[7] He awso served as de Chairperson of de New York City Counciw's Transportation Committee, and served on de committees on Education, Consumer Affairs, Heawf, Land Use, Contracts, Oversight & Investigations as weww as Lower Manhattan Redevewopment.[12] Liu was known for his outspoken and confrontationaw demeanor.[13]

Later, in September 2009, de United Federation of Teachers (UFT) began endorsing Liu. In de September 15 Democratic primary, Liu was de front-runner, ending up wif 133,986 votes (38% of de vote), but because he did not manage to reach 40% of de vote, a run-off ewection was reqwired between Liu and David Yassky, who received 30 percent of de vote in de primary,[21] but Liu water won de run-off by taking 55.6% of de vote.[22][23]

In de generaw ewection on November 3, Liu won de comptrowwer ewection wif a totaw of 696,330 votes (76% of votes). Repubwican candidate Joseph Mendowa came in second wif 19.3% of de vote.

During his tenure as New York comptrowwer, Liu cwaimed to have saved New York City more dan $3 biwwion by cracking down on wastefuw expenditures and cutting inefficiencies. He spearheaded Checkbook 2.0, de initiative to upgrade de city's current onwine transparency system.[24]

Liu is a weader of de Asian Powiticaw Leadership Fund, a federawwy designated 527 fund whose purpose is to promote powiticaw weadership from widin de Asian American community.[25]

Improving air qwawity and cwean water by improving de city's transit system, pressuring de MTA to modernize deir transit systems in order to reduce greenhouse gas emission and improve energy efficiency.[27]

Greatwy improve energy efficiency by supporting warge-scawe energy awternatives such as sowar and wind energy as opposed to de usage of fossiw fuews which wouwd qwickwy depwete de Earf's naturaw resources as weww as rewease about 10 biwwion tonnes of greenhouse gases every year.[28]

Create opportunities to source food wocawwy, which wouwd improve New York's economy and furder distribute capitaw droughout de City in an environmentawwy sound way.[29]

Support revitawizing brownfiewds, abandoned areas which were previouswy used as industriaw centers for factories and mass production, uh-hah-hah-hah.[29]

Advocating to increase minimum wage from $7.25/hour to $11.50/hour to increase de standard of wiving in New York City.[24]

Legawizing, reguwating and taxing de production and sawe of recreationaw and medicinaw marijuana to aduwts of age 21 and owder, and directing de tax revenues and savings to university education, uh-hah-hah-hah.[30]

Investigations into Liu's ewection fundraising reveawed dat two of his former associates used straw donors to contribute to his campaign, a discovery dat rattwed his 2013 mayoraw campaign[32][33]

In November 17, 2011, Owiver Pan was arrested on charges of wire fraud from iwwegaw donations.[34][35] Pan was approached by an undercover Federaw Bureau of Investigation agent posing as someone who wanted to donate $16,000 to Liu, weww over de city donation wimit of $4,950 for individuaw contributions, and agreed to arranged for 20 fictitious donors.[36]

In February 2012, campaign treasurer Jia "Jenny" Hou was arrested for using straw donors to circumvent campaign finance waws and gain more matching funds from taxpayers.[37] In October 2013, Hou was sentenced to ten monds in prison after her conviction for attempted wire fraud, obstruction of justice and making fawse statements.[38] Pan was sentenced to four monds in jaiw.

Liu was never accused of any wrongdoing in connection wif his staffers.[39] On de eve of deir triaw, he expressed frustration wif de U.S. Attorney's office for what observers have described as an "extraordinariwy intrusive and exhaustive investigation," and was criticaw of de wengdy dree-year wong process and de interrogation of dousands of his supporters.[40][41]

In September 2014, Liu ran in de Democratic primary race for New York State Senate District 11 (which incwudes some of de same neighborhoods as City Counciw District 20), wosing to incumbent Tony Avewwa 47-52%.[42][43][44] Liu and Avewwa had previouswy served togeder in de City Counciw, representing neighboring districts, and de two had a strained rewationship.[13]

Liu criticized Avewwa for joining de Independent Democratic Conference (IDC), a group of senate Democrats dat awwied demsewves wif de Senate Repubwican Conference, creating a coawition dat controwwed de Senate. At de time, Democrats hewd a numericaw majority in de Senate, but de IDC-Repubwican coawition prevented Democrats from howding power, whiwe awwowing Avewwa and oder IDC members to gain committee chairships.[45] Avewwa criticized Liu over de watter's campaign finance scandaw, Liu's faiwure to pay fines from his earwier campaign for Comptrowwer, and Liu's record as Comptrowwer.[46][47][48] Liu was initiawwy supported by de Working Famiwies Party, by de Queens County Democratic Party and by severaw unions,[6] but dese organizations wargewy dropped deir support of Liu when Jeff Kwein, weader of de Independent Democratic Conference, announced dat its members wouwd rejoin de mainwine Democratic Conference after de 2014 ewections.[49][50][51] However, after Repubwicans gained an outright majority in de State Senate in de 2014 ewections, de Independent Democratic Conference continued to caucus wif de Repubwicans.[52][53]

Liu initiawwy stated he had no pwans to run for office after his 2014 woss to Avewwa and decwined offers to do so, but was inspired after Awexandria Ocasio-Cortez's upset victory over incumbent Congressman Joe Crowwey in de June 2018 Congressionaw primary ewections. He was den convinced to run for state senate by activists wooking to defeat former IDC members.[6] Liu was initiawwy doubtfuw dat de grassroots campaigners dat approached him couwd gader enough signatures to pwace him on de bawwot so cwose to de Juwy fiwing deadwine, but he received more dan dree times de number of signatures needed. New York's 14f congressionaw district, which Crowwey represented, partiawwy overwaps wif State Senate District 11.

Unwike in 2014, de Queens County Democratic Party, which Crowwey chaired at de time, endorsed Avewwa instead of Liu. In de September 2018 Democratic primary, Liu once again chawwenged Avewwa. In a reversaw of deir 2014 race, Liu defeated Avewwa 53-47%, attributed to backwash against de former members of de Independent Democratic Conference, which had dissowved earwier in 2018.[56][57][58][59]

In de November 2018 generaw ewection, Liu won a four-way race wif 54% of de vote, defeating Repubwican Vickie Pawadino wif 24% of de vote, Avewwa, running on two dird-party wines wif 21% of de vote, and dird-party candidate Simon Minching wif 1% of de vote,[60][61][62][63] becoming one of de two first Asian Americans in de New York Senate.[4][3]

^Officiaw Opening of Bronx Science's New Foreign Language Laboratory on December 3, 2008: Queens Counciwman John C. Liu, a Bronx Science awumnus, Cwass of 1985, was instrumentaw in procuring de funding for dis Laboratory. Found at The Bronx High Schoow of Science officiaw website; accessed September 30, 2009.